Martin Luther

MARTIN LUTHER: THE RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY
PROF. M. M. NINAN
In 1502 he received the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy, being the thirteenth among fifty-seven
candidates. On Epiphany (6 January, 1505), he was advanced to the master's degree, being
second among seventeen applicants. He received his master's degree in 1505.
His philosophical studies were made under Jodocus Trutvetter von Eisenach, then rector of the
university, and Bartholomaus Arnoldi von Usingen. Jodocus was the Doctor Erfordiensis, and stood
without an admitted rival in Germany. Although the tone of the university, especially that of the
students, was pronouncedly, even enthusiastically, humanistic, and although Erfurt led the
movement in Germany, and in its theological tendencies was supposedly "modern", nevertheless
"it nowise showed a depreciation of the currently prevailing [Scholastic] system". Luther himself, in
spite of an acquaintance with some of the moving spirits of humanism, seems not to have been
appreciably affected by it, lived on its outer fringe, and never qualified to enter its "poetic" circle.
In July 1505, Luther had a life-changing experience that set him on a sudden new course to
becoming a monk. On 2 July 1505, he was returning to university on horseback after a trip home.
During a thunderstorm, a lightning bolt struck near him. Later telling his father he was terrified of
death and divine judgment, he cried out, "Help! Saint Anna, I will become a monk!" He came to
view his cry for help as a vow he could never break. He left law school, sold his books, and entered
St. Augustine's Monastery in Erfurt on 17 July 1505. One friend blamed the decision on Luther's
sadness over the deaths of two friends. Luther himself seemed saddened by the move. Those who
attended a farewell supper walked him to the door of the Black Cloister. "This day you see me, and
then, not ever again," he said. His father was furious over what he saw as a waste of Luther's
education.
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Note: The motives that prompted the step are various, conflicting, and the subject of considerable debate. He himself
alleges, that the brutality of his home and school life drove him into the monastery.
The "house at Mansfeld rather repelled than attracted him" (Beard, "Martin Luther and the Germ. Ref.", London, 1889,
146), and to "the question 'Why did Luther go into the monastery?', the reply that Luther himself gives is the most
satisfactory" (Hausrath, "Luthers Leben" I, Berlin, 1904, 2, 22).
He himself again, in a letter to his father, in explanation of his defection from the Old Church, writes, "When I was
terror-stricken and overwhelmed by the fear of impending death, I made an involuntary and forced vow".
Various explanations are given of this episode. Melancthon ascribes his step to a deep melancholy, which attained a
critical point "when at one time he lost one of his comrades by an accidental death" (Corp. Ref., VI, 156).
Cochlaeus, Luther's opponent, relates "that at one time he was so frightened in a field, at a thunderbolt as is commonly
reported, or was in such anguish at the loss of a companion, who was killed in the storm, that in a short time to the
amazement of many persons he sought admission to the Order of St. Augustine". Mathesius, his first biographer,
attributes it to the fatal "stabbing of a friend and a terrible storm with a thunderclap" (op. cit.) Seckendorf, who made
careful research, following Bavarus (Beyer), a pupil of Luther, goes a step farther, calling this unknown friend Alexius,
and ascribes his death to a thunderbolt (Seckendorf, "Ausfuhrliche Historie des Lutherthums", Leipzig, 1714, 51).
D'Aubigné changes this Alexius into Alexis and has him assassinated at Erfurt (D'Aubigné, "History of the Reformation",
New York, s.d., I, 166). Oerger ("Vom jungen Luther", Erfurt, 1899, 27-41) has proved the existence of this friend, his
name of Alexius or Alexis, his death by lightning or assassination, a mere legend, destitute of all historical verification.
Kostlin-Kawerau (I, 45) states that returning from his "Mansfeld home he was overtaken by a terrible storm, with an
alarming lightning flash and thunderbolt. Terrified and overwhelmed he cries out: 'Help, St. Anna, I will be a monk'."
"The inner history of the change is far less easy to narrate. We have no direct contemporary evidence on which to rely;
while Luther's own reminiscences, on which we chiefly depend, are necessarily colored by his later experiences and
feelings" (Beard, op. cit., 146).]
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Augustine Monastery in Erfurt
It was in 1505, according to legend, Luther was terrified for his life and shouted up into the severe
thunderstorm he thought would kill him these words: “Saint Anna, help me! I will become a monk.”
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